I have been celebrating my 60th birthday this month. Due to limitations of the remaining COVID-19 restrictions my celebrations have been toned down. The pubs are open for business, but we are restricted to sit down at tables in groups of 6.
Headlines for May 2021:
Debenhams stores finally closed across the country after trading for more than 240 years. Childhood memories exploring Debenhams in Folkestone come flooding back, and working there as a teenager. I wonder what will become of the Debenhams building in Guildford which is protected and a local landmark.
Leicester City beat Chelsea 1:0 in the FA cup final to win the trophy for the first time. COVID restrictions limited the crowd to 21,000 at Wembley Stadium, but they made plenty of noise and it was atmospheric. COVID vaccine rollout in the UK opened up to the over 30’s this month
On 17th May the government eased the UK into ‘stage 3 of the lockdown restructions’ allowing larger public gatherings (within limits and social distancing etc)
The UK scored 0 points in the Eurovision Song Contest
Cambridge launched an autonomous bus service a couple of days ago (27th May 2021) as part of a government funded trial. This is fantastic news! More info on this link. There must be a way of increasing the appetite of our local authorities to embark in this kind of innovation in our area.
The images below are a reminder of the abnormal weather conditions this month, freak snow-fall and record-breaking rain-fall across the country during the last week of May 2021. More evidence of climate change.
Reaching a 60th birthday is a significant moment. Time for reflection. Time to reset, recalibrate, rethink, set new goals. My aspiration, for the next decade, is to get much more actively engaged in ventures that have a sustainable outcome. With my background and experience it is logical to focus on change and innovation in the transport and logistics sector. So, I’ve been doing a bit of research and extending my network (outside of work) to get connected with organisations driving sustainable change. I’ve reached out to the execs where I’m currently working with these ideas, but there has been scant interest from these ‘leaders’ in stepping outside of their normal comfort zones to change how the organisation operates.
I’m not going to hang around.
Two related interstitial posts:
- Joining up renewable energy with sustainable transport strategies (link to be added)
- Repurposing the disused railway line between Guildford and Cranleigh (link to be added)
